"For Boats, even the uglier ones, are among the loveliest creations of man’s hands, and though owning them brings a train of debts, hangnails, bruises, bad frights, and all kinds of worries not experienced by those who content themselves with more practical vices, the relation between man and his boat is as personal and intimate as the relation between husband and wife" - DESMOND HOLDRIDGE

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2017 will be remembered as a compromised sailing year as a result of building an extension, a death in the family and big family holidays. I have however, initially because of crew unavailability mostly through illnesses, enjoyed some autumn single… Continue Reading →

Following my ‘Change of plan’ blog, the question of insurance cover for single handed sailing has been raised by correspondents. I had already discussed this with my insurers Pantaenius and their helpful and positive response follows:- Dear Mr Mines, It… Continue Reading →

My original plan for the 2017 season was a cruise through Holland, Keil Canal, Swedish Archipelago, Gota Canal, over the top of Scotland, Dublin and back to the south coast. I was facing some adjustments to the plan as two… Continue Reading →

If one of your winter jobs was to update the software of your instruments, you would do well to note my recent experience. Having been pleased to have navigated the myriad of menus within my instrument system and successfully updated… Continue Reading →

Slipping the mooring buoy off Yarmouth, we motored sedately eastwards with the tide under our keel making good time in the early sunshine. We took the time to rig the courtesy flags of the countries visited over our yearlong cruise… Continue Reading →

This post should have been published on Saturday morning having been meticulously compiled during the course of Friday spent tracking up the Channel. The excellent sailing wind dropped away and we flew the Parasailor while there was sufficient wind to… Continue Reading →

We closed land at dawn and the day started bright but not breezy as we motored through the channel inside Ushant. Our timing was perfect as we picked up the first of the ‘flush’ and we recorded 11.6 knots of… Continue Reading →